In Defense of Christians (IDC) 2014 Summit

You are invited to participate in a groundbreaking conference by the organization, In Defense of Christians, in Washington, DC, from September 9-11, 2014. The conference will empower the Middle Eastern Christian Diaspora and energize the American people to stand in solidarity for the protection and preservation of Christians in the Middle East.

The CrisisIn the birthplace of Christ, Christians suffer for their faith and their communities are dwindling toward extinction. Christians in Syria, Egypt, the Holy Land, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon—including more than a million Armenians across the region—all these and more face a time of crisis. We must act now to protect them in their ancestral homelands, countries where they have been driving forces of stability and pluralism for over 2,000 years.

The SummitIn Defense of Christians (IDC) has heard the call of our brother and sister Christians. To this end, the inauguralIDC Summit for Middle East Christians, “Protecting and Preserving Christianity, Where It All Began,” will help people like you to act in defense of these Christians.

At the Summit you will have the opportunity to meet with Members of Congress and their staff, policy makers, diplomats, human rights activists, and religious leaders, including His Beatitude Moran Mor Bechara Boutros al-Rahi (Maronite Patriarch of Antioch), His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II (Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch), His Eminence Donald Cardinal Wuerl (Archbishop of Washington), His Eminence Leonard Cardinal Sandri (Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Oriental Churches), His Holiness Catholicos of Aram I (head of the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church), His Beatitude Gregory III Laham (Melkite Greek Patriarch of Antioch), His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch (Primate of the Greek Orthodox Patriatchate of Antioch and All The East), and His Beatitude Moran Mor Ignatius Joseph III Younan (Patriarch of Antioch and all the East of the Syrians).

RegistrationThe Summit is now open for registration. We hope you will join the cause to defend the defenseless, to be a voice for those who are voiceless. For more information please contact Cindy Nachman-Senders at (301) 648-4466 or summit@indefenseofchristians.org.

“[Christians] have enriched the cultures of the region with their different oriental traditions; that of Alexandria, Antioch, Armenia, Constantinople, and the Chaldeans tradition, over and above the Roman tradition.” — Patriarch Bachara Cardinal Rahi

“For almost two millennia Christian communities have lived in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. . . . Unfortunately, in the 21st century Middle Eastern Christians are being severely persecuted. . . . In most of these countries, Islamist extremists see Christians as an obstacle to their plans.” — His Beatitude Louis Raphael I Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans

“Today there is an ecumenism of blood. In some countries they kill Christians for wearing a cross or having a bible and before they kill them they do not ask them whether they are Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic, or Orthodox. Their blood is mixed, to those who kill we are Christians. We are united in blood, even though we have not yet managed to take necessary steps towards unity between us and perhaps the time has not yet come. Unity is a gift that we need to ask for.” —His Holiness Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome

“Working together to promote ecumenical dialogue and peace on earth will be our mutual aim.” — His Holiness Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, 118th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria